Oculoplastic video-based telemedicine consultations: Covid-19 and beyond

Abstract

While the Covid-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge to ophthalmic service delivery, it also creates a unique opportunity to rapidly expand and promote new uses of telemedicine. Telemedicine offers distinct benefits to patients, clinicians, and communities during the current crisis: it supports social distancing measures by minimising the need for patients and clinicians to travel to hospitals; it enables continued service delivery at a time when in-person outpatient activity has been severely restricted, supporting patients continued access to medical care, promoting patient confidence and reducing patient and clinician anxiety; and reducing the anticipated surge in demand when normal services resume by allowing existing referral, surgery booking, follow-up and discharge pathways to continue.